Were you offended by some of the elements in the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony? What did it mean and what should be our response?

Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #162 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.

To say the Opening Ceremony, July 26, 2024, of the Paris Olympics 2024, was controversial would be an understatement. Indeed, since the typically long and over-the-top ceremony took place on and around the Seine River running through Paris, social media has been on fire jousting about whether the opening was sacrilegious and loathsome, or historic and artistic, or an attack on Christianity, or an expression of French culture, creative genius, or simply pagan ignorance.

In case you did not watch or do not know what I am talking about, the issue for the most part focuses upon a presentation near the beginning of the ceremony of what appeared to be a depiction of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Last Supper.

“The scene in question featured a line of drag performers posing shoulder-to-shoulder on a Parisian bridge before turning the bridge into a fashion-forward catwalk. Later, those same queens celebrated over a meal where the dish was revealed to be a nearly nude man painted blue.” 

“In this parody, the Christ figure was an obese woman making a heart symbol with her hands surrounded by a rainbow coalition of drag queens, bearded ladies, and other perversions.”

So, this portrayal included drag performers, a child, and a mostly naked, blue-painted bearded man said be a representation of the mythological Greek god Dionysius, the god of wine, freedom, intoxication, and ecstasy, or as he was later known among the Romans, Bacchus, from which we get the word, bacchanalia, meaning a wild, orgiastic party or celebration.

“The official Olympics Games X account shared photos from the portion of the program featuring the blue man at the tableau’s center and explained, ‘The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings.’”

Interesting argument.

Media have said reaction came from the “Christian right,” but this is limited and slanted at best, for reaction came worldwide from Catholics, Jews, and non-Christians alike. Indeed, you don’t have to be anti-intellectual, or part of the “Christian right,” or a person uninformed about artistic imagery to wonder how a naked man and a bunch of drag queens make a statement about the absurdity of violence between human beings.

The ceremony, we are told, was an attempt to represent the culture and history of the host nation. “France’s history, particularly during the French Revolution, is complex. This period saw the overthrow of Christianity, the execution of monarchs (including the beheadings of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI), the deaths of 16,000 people during the Reign of Terror, and the rededication of Notre Dame as the “Temple of Reason.” This era marked France's official shift toward secularism.

The ceremony embodied this historical narrative and its underlying themes. Lady Liberty in drag symbolizes the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to the United States, representing liberty and freedom. Dionysus appears not only because of the Greco-Roman origins of the Olympics but also because he was known as “Liber Pater,” the Father of freedom and liberty. The da Vinci-style imagery with Lady Liberty in drag signifies France’s rejection of Christianity and its embrace of secularism, (supposedly) transforming into a nation of tolerance, liberty, and freedom.

Christians are justified in feeling angry and should voice their disapproval. This event distorted a Christian symbol to celebrate revolution and Bacchanalia, rejecting all meaning, order, and hierarchy. This is ultimately a form of spiritual warfare—we battle not against flesh and blood, but against rulers and principalities.”

In response to the backlash, “Anne Deschamps, spokesperson for Paris 2024, stated, ‘Clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group,’ Reuters reported. ‘The opening ceremony,’ she added, ‘tried to celebrate community tolerance…We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence, we are really sorry.’”

This non-apology apology was roundly condemned by religious leaders representing a variety of nationalities and denominations. The ceremony producers are not sorry for egregiously disrespecting more than 2.6 billion Christians in the world. They are sorry someone took offense. In other words, we don’t have a problem, but we’re sorry you all have a problem.

Several things bothered me about all of this.

1. Yes, I felt the presentation was a mockery of Christianity and I was offended this was done in such an in-your-face manner in the Olympics Opening Ceremony.
2. I thought the lying, or what’s now called gaslighting, trying to reinterpret the producers’ intent as something other than mockery was equally offensive, not unlike the mainstream media’s eagerness to rewrite history if it helps a given political candidate.
3. I not only did not like the Last Supper display, I did not like much of the ceremony, for in it I saw a ménage à troispromoted as representative of Paris’s reputation as a city of love, I saw two men kissing each other, I saw the woman who portrayed Christ in the Last Supper, a lesbian DJ named Barbara Butch, kissing her partner after the event, I saw drag queens featured throughout – all this was shared on NBC’s coverage. 
4. I thought the riverboat presentation of the athletes was unique but even longer than usual, thus losing its audience.
5. I don’t blame the athletes for what the IOC approved for the Paris Olympics Opening Ceremony.
6. Virtue signaling by self-avowed Christians hasn’t been helpful. In other words, people who found the display offensive have proclaimed their position online then demanded others do as they do, boycott watching the Olympics. These boycotting individuals have every right, even Christian liberty, to watch or not watch, but they do not possess any biblical rationale for judging others’ Christian commitment based on their viewing choices. That’s just old-style legalism. 

7. On the flipside, I was bothered by the number of people purporting to be Christians, who in their social media comments, pooh-poohed those who didn’t like the ceremony’s celebration of debauchery, acted as if it were no big deal, even defended it on the basis of, well, it’s art or it’s French. Yes, that’s true, but that does not mean it’s good art or that this represents all of what it means to be French nor certainly what is best about being French. 

Some perspective:

1. Olympics opening ceremonies are rarely anything but a celebration of what is called “culture,” but in actuality, is pagan religion. I have especially strong recollections of this for the 1994 winter games in Lillehammer, Norway, and the 1998 winter games in Nagano, Japan, wherein the opening ceremonies were one long presentation of polytheistic religion. So, while what Paris did was objectionable post-Christian wokeism, it was not surprising or new.
2. Ceremony producers are not going to produce any parody about religions other than Christianity, like Islam, or for that matter, Buddhism, Hinduism, and certainly not atheism, because they are afraid of fatwas and other global Muslim reactions, and, ironically, Islam is seen as an ally of the Woke because both want to bring down Western Civilization. 
3. I have wondered about some here in the U.S. who seem to be reacting as if this degenerate display was somehow a new level of public offensiveness. If that is what they think, where have they been? For a few years now, we’ve had so-called Drag Queen Story hours scheduled at public libraries wherein men dressed as women can dance suggestively in front of kindergarten age children. In the U.S. we have Pride Month, parades, corporate kowtowing, and celebrities working overtime to tell us how this is about inclusion, “being seen,” or freedom, when what it’s really about is grooming children and legitimizing immorality. In the U.S., especially under the Biden Administration, we have men masquerading as women in the U.S. military, wearing uniforms, officers in charge of troops, who are symbols not of military preparedness but ideological wokeism. So, while the Paris Olympics captured a worldwide audience, what they did is not all that different from what is taking place every day in the U.S.A.

4. From a pastor friend on Facebook, “I’m grateful we live in the age of streaming television. We can pause whenever, and we don't really have to watch anything we don't want to.”

How should we then respond to all this? Not by angry or self-righteous posts on social media. We live in a fallen and now post-Christian culture, so we need to work harder to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com.  

And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2024   

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